Lebanon Signs Oil Storage Deal with Rosneft

Lebanon has signed a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in the country's northern city of Tripoli.

Caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil signed the deal on Friday, in the presence of Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin, and told reporters that Rosneft will manage storage operations.

Abi Khalil said they will start with the development of 450,000 metric tons of capacity, likely to be expanded to 1.5 million metric tons in the future.

The facilities were built about 90 years ago and were used to store oil shipped through a pipeline from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Since the 1980s, they have been used to store diesel for local markets.

Abi Khalil says there are plans to rehabilitate the Kirkuk pipeline.